


Fake It 'Til You Make It

by Shamwowzer



Category: Ariana Grande (Musician), Justin Bieber (Musician)
Genre: AU, Belieber, F/F, F/M, Fake Relationship, Fame, Hollywood, M/M, Paparazzi, RPF, Romance, Social Media, Texting, a-list, arianator, celebrity, jari - Freeform, jariana
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-03
Updated: 2017-10-27
Packaged: 2019-01-08 13:18:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12255156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shamwowzer/pseuds/Shamwowzer
Summary: Justin Bieber's had a rough few years. After a very public breakup, several arrests, leaked nudes, and fights caught on tape, his public perception is at an all-time low.Insert Ariana Grande, America's Sweetheart, who also happens to be trying to break out of her "good girl" image without going full Miley.They decide that they might just be the solution to the other’s problems and start a fake relationship. Two birds, one stone, right? Well, what happens when the line between make-believe and reality is blurred?Un-betaed experiment on the side.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> B/c the Fake!relationship trope never gets old right? RIGHT?? Ahaha ha (i wanna kms)  
> This and my other Jariana stories can be found on wattpad.

Justin wasn’t quite sure how his life got to this point. It was like overnight he went from being on top of the world to being the shit that people stepped in. Like wtf? Here he was, at twenty-one years old, sitting in a meeting with his management trying to fix his public image before his next album dropped, listening to people talk about “charitable ventures,” and “benign fashion statements,” and “Ellen! We need Ellen!” He literally felt like his life was a movie that he was just watching happen. How? How was this his life?   


That last few years had been rough for Justin. It seemed as if every other day he was the center of another media frenzy. It all started with his breakup with Selena-- his very public breakup. And then the drugs and the lawsuits and then his breakup with Selena, again. And then the whole thing with the prostitute and his nudes being leaked. And all the women. And everything culminating in his alleged DUI/drag-racing arrest.  


His life had turned into the plot-line of a trashy soap opera. All he needed now was to fake his own death and have an evil twin no one knew about.  


And now, in an effort to fix all of it before it was too late, his future was literally being planned right in front of him.  


He needed a break.  


“Okay. So, um,” he said, interrupting Scooter mid-sentence, “I think we should go ahead and wrap up for now. We’ve got a lot of ideas already and I kind of need to think about ‘em.”  


Scooter looked around the room at the execs sitting at the table before turning back to Justin. “No problem. We’ll pick back up tomorrow at noon. If that works for everyone?”  


Heads nodded around the table, and Justin let out a sigh as they all picked up to leave. He and Scooter got to the elevators first and commandeered one for themselves. Justin rested his head against the wall and closed his eyes.  


“So where to next, Scoot?”  


“Well, since the meeting’s over about an hour early,” he said pointedly, “I can just let you go if you want. I have a lunch meeting with Ariana Grande coming up pretty soon. I would’ve had to leave you anyway.”  


“Oh. Word?” Justin opened his eyes and tilted his head to peer at Scooter.  


“Word,” he replied, dryly.  


“Well. Since we just established that all my friends suck not too long ago—”  


“They don’t suck, Justin. You all just need some… guidance.”  


“Whatever. You think she’d mind if I stuck around?”  


Scooter eyes him suspiciously. “You’re not just trying to go so you can hit on her again, are you?”  


“Of course not, dude,” Justin lied.  


“I’ll text her and find out.”  


While Scooter fiddled with his phone, they exited the elevator and made their way through the lobby into the ground-floor dining area and sat at the bar.

“She says she’s fine with it.”  


“Sweet. So you guys meeting here? Can we order a drink or something?”  


“It’s eleven in the morning Justin.”  


“I’m still on London’s time zone.” He smirked.  


“Sure you are. Even though you only stayed for three days and you’ve been back in L.A. for a week now?”  


“Yep.”  


Scooter sighed, “Do what you want Justin.”  


It was Scooter’s had-it face that made Justin re-think his decision. He decided against getting anything but picked up the drink menu anyway. Scooter ordered an appetizer to share and while they waited, they chatted about some of the ideas suggested in the meeting. They had just gotten around to talking about him doing a Comedy Central Roast when they spotted a curly brown ponytail at the entrance.

Justin couldn’t help but take a good look at Ariana as she made her way across the room to them. She was wearing a white top with a bow on it, a pink polka dotted skirt, and heels as high as he wished he was. Girl had legs for days. Once she was right on their table he was reminded of just how tiny she actually was.  


“Hi!” she smiled and went to hug Scooter before turning to Justin and doing the same. “Hi, how are you?”  


“Hey. I’m good. And it’s good to see you again. It’s been a while.” He replied, taking his time on removing his arms.  


“I know! It’s been what? Eleven months? Almost a year? Since your meet and greet, right?”  


“Yeah, feels like forever.”  


“Let’s go ahead and get seated before we attract too much more attention. I’ve got a table reserved for us in a private room. Where’s your mom?” Scooter asked.  


“We ran into some dude in the lobby. Apparently they go way back. She said she’d be here in a few.”  


“All right, well I’ll come back and get her. Let’s go ahead and go.” And sure enough, there were a number of people looking in their directions and more than a few cell phones had made their way up into the air, cameras tilted suspiciously their way.  


Walking towards the back, Ariana leaned over to whisper to Justin. “So do you think they all randomly got texts at the same time, orrr?”  


“Not very subtle, right?” Justin huffed.  


“Not at all,” she laughed and Justin was treated to an up-close view of her dimple. Damn but she was cute. Justin thought about ordering that drink after all.  


They were taken to their table by a hostess. Justin pulled out Ariana’s chair for her and left the seats next to her and in front of her open for her mom and Scooter, who took off his blazer and laid it across the back of his chair before leaving to go back to the lobby for Ms. Grande.  


The hostess asked what they wanted to drink. Justin ordered two waters and Ariana ordered tea for her mother and a mimosa for herself. Justin eyed her, a little surprised.  


“It’s never too early for champagne. Besides, OJ is totally a breakfast drink.”  


“I’m the last one to judge.” Justin said, picking up the menu, fidgeting. “So.”  


“Sooo…” Ariana said eying him up.  


“So Scooter told me not to hit on you.” He said, startling a laugh out of her.  


“Oh he did, did he?”  


“Yep.”  


“Um, okay.” She nodded and pressed her lips together.  


“Okay?”  


“Oh-kay.” Justin kept looking at Ariana expectantly so she continued, “I don’t know what you expect me to say to that. What, like: You’re on a roll. We’ve been talking for less than five minutes and you haven’t hit on me yet. Good job?”  


Ariana smiled sarcastically and gave him a thumbs up.  


“Yeah, even that would have been better than ‘okay.’” He responded.  


“Sorry my conversational skills aren’t up to your expectations?” Her phone dinged and she quickly whipped it out, teddy bear case and all. Justin couldn’t tell if Ariana was actually pissed off or not but figured it would be best to err on the side of caution.  


“So what’s on the agenda for today’s meeting? Can’t be too much of a secret if I was allowed to stay.”  


Ariana tapped out a few more characters before locking her phone and sitting it on the table. “Apparently the same as you. My public image needs some work.”  


“You’re kidding right?” Justin scoffed. “You’re literally America’s Sweetheart. I don’t think I’ve ever met a celebrity with a cleaner image than you. You could probably actually get away with murdering someone and the press would say shame on them for getting blood on your heels.”  


Ariana’s eyes grew wider throughout his mini-rant before narrowing, “Yeah. That’s kind of the point.”  


“What do you mean?”  


“I mean that I’m twenty-one and still wearing bows in my hair, singing about lollipops and sprinkles and shit.”  


Justin laughed, not expecting to hear Ariana Grande, of all people, swearing. A server came by and sat their drinks on the table. Justin pulled his water towards him and started drawing swirls in the condensation on the glass with his pinky.  


“Don’t get me wrong,” she continued, sipping on her glass. “I like lollipops and sprinkles, but I’m ready to sing about stuff that I actually care about. More mature stuff. You know what I mean?”  


“I mean, I guess.” Justin said slowly, bringing his had up to play with the hairs on his chin. “Why can’t you just do what you want though? Like, just make the music you want. Why do you need to change your image for that?”  


“I’m low-key scared that if I do that I’m gonna come out looking like Miley. Not that there’s anything wrong with Miley,” she rushed to correct herself, “I just don’t want people to think I’ve gone crazy, you know? Like, there should be some sort of progression from ‘lollipop’ to ‘fuck me daddy.’”  


Justin choked on his mouthful of water and started coughing. After he caught his breath he immediately started laughing. “What the fuck?”  


“Sorry, was that too much?” Ariana asked, eyes wide.  


“No," He laughed. "I just wasn’t expecting it from you.”  


Ariana gave him a weird smile. “Honestly, I wasn’t expecting you to be so chill either. I mean I knew you weren’t going to be a total dick, but last time we met, you were… less chill, I guess.”  


He thought back to the last time they met, almost a year ago at the meet and greet for his concert. He remembered taking a selfie with Ariana and kissing her cheek. And then basically pressuring her into posting it to Twitter because he wanted to make Selena jealous.  


“Yeah. Sorry about that.”  


“It's cool. Your fangirls got over it pretty quick.”  


“So your image is too squeaky-clean and my image is basically garbage.” He laughed and she joined in.  


“We’re legit the opposite of each other. Which is crazy when you consider the fact that we’ve basically got the same target demo. Like, that’s weird, right?”  


“What’s weird?” Scooter asked, walking into the room with Joan Grande in tow.  


“The fact that we’re total opposites, but also the same person.” Justin stood up to shake Ariana’s mother’s hand. “Nice to meet you Ms. Grande.”  


“Oh, it’s very nice to meet you too, Justin. And you can just call me Joan, sweetheart.” She shook his hand and went to sit down but Justin grabbed the chair and pulled it out for her. “What a gentleman.”  


Joan wagged her eyebrows and eyed Ariana who just looked over at Justin and said, “Why are you being a suck-up?”  


“Uh. I’m not?” Justin replied, smirking a little and moving back around the table to sit in his own spot. “Like your mom said. I’m being a gentleman.”  


“Ariana, don't be rude.” Joan came to Justin’s defense.  


“Well, stop trying to push boys on me.” Ariana frowned but changed the subject, “What took y’all so long? I was starting to think you’d decided to run away and elope in Vegas.”  


“Oh, I ran into Gerald Crawford! We went to the same college. Apparently he works in the industry now. Assistant to some model-actress, can’t remember her name. But I introduced him to Scooter and they got to talking.”  


“Speaking of, we’ve got a lot to talk about today, right?” Scooter interjected. “Everyone know what they want to order?”  


They all ordered their meals, the server promising to return shortly with refills for Justin and Ariana.  


“So what’s going on? You didn’t tell me much on the phone.” Scooter asked Ariana.  


She took a sip of her drink and sat it back down before straightening up in her seat. “I need to start working on developing a more mature image.”  


“I was wondering if you were ever going to come to me about this.” Scooter laughed. “I mean, you’ve been in the industry for a few years now. I didn’t even think it was going to take this long, honestly.”  


“Yeah, well, I’ve been making some new music. It’s not exactly in line with my current brand. So I think I need to start trying to change it before I start releasing any of it.”  


Scooter shook his head, looking from Ariana over to Justin. “Is this what you meant when you said you were the same person?”  


“Yep.”  


“Okay. Well, we’ll want to set up an official meeting and get the whole team involved. Sort of like— no, exactly like what we did for Justin today. But we can still talk about it, if you have any ideas you want to share right now.”  


“We know for a fact that she’s going to have to change her actual style. The way she dresses,” Joan said.  


Ariana agreed, “I think people forget that I’m an actual adult sometimes.”  


“Yeah, it probably doesn’t help that you dress like a baby doll,” Justin said, eyeing her teddy bear phone case. “And the ponytail makes you seem even younger.”  


“The ponytail stays.” Ariana said, looking serious as hell.  


“Why?” Scooter asked.  


“At this point? It’s more the fact that it annoys everyone else. I almost have to keep it.” This drew a round of laughter from the table and over the next hour they all chatted about this and that while finishing their lunch. Once they were finished, Scooter offered to let them leave first, but before they could go, Justin pulled Ariana to the side.  


“Can I get your number?”  


“Um, wow. That was blunt.” Ariana only had to tilt her head up the tiniest bit to look Justin in the eyes. “Is this you hitting on me? And you were doing so well.”  


“No,” Justin lied. “I’m just trying to make some new friends that aren’t going to get me into trouble. It’s a part of my re-branding. Ask Scooter.”  


“Sure it is.” Ariana laughed, pulled out her phone and asked, “What’s your number?”  


Justin supplied it and Ariana quickly sent him a text. “Got it.”  


Justin winked at her and said goodbye to Joan before letting the two women step out.  


Scooter looked at Justin.  


“What?” Justin asked defensively. “I can’t be friendly?”  


“Friendly. Right.”  


“Hey, I can totally be friends with a girl.”  


“Except I don’t think you’ve ever been friends with a girl you didn’t eventually put your dick inside. Ariana’s off limits.” Scooter tapped Justin on the shoulder to emphasize his point. “I’m serious.”  


Justin, never one to be deterred, texted Ariana later that same night.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you think they're falling into tropes, there's a reason for it.  
> It's not as cringe as you may think it is. (it's still pretty cringe tho)

Justin woke up with a very slight headache and feeling very much depressed. Getting drunk alone was never any fun. He stretched before flinging the fluffy white comforter off and rolled over to grab his phone off the charger on the bedside table. 

He had a missed text from Ariana. 

Justin cringed a little before pressing his thumb to the home button, unlocking it. He hadn't heard from her since he got drunk and told her his genius plan almost a month ago. He was embarrassed enough that he didn't really need to say anything else and just hoped that the next time they ran into each other she would pretend it never happened. 

This being his mindset, he was very surprised when he read the message 

Justin paused. Did she want him to be serious? 

**Did you actually want to do it??**

 **I mean, maybe? You busy?**

**Can I call you?**

Justin went to her contact details and pressed call and started to make his way to the bathroom. He had just started brushing his teeth when she picked up. 

"Do you think it would help me up my sex appeal? Because I've just about had it with these 12-year-old comments." Ariana would never admit it to anyone else, but Justin was kind of in the same boat as her. Looking at the comments on her latest candid paparazzi shot on Perez Hilton's site, she couldn't help but feel like all the efforts she had been going through (getting rid of her mini skirts and bows and cat ears, trying to look more womanly) were for nothing. 

"Hello to you too. And probably, yeah," He mumbled around his toothbrush. "I mean, all we'd really have to do is be in the same place and look at each other. And the next day there'd be headlines saying you're pregnant with my baby. There's no way people won't think we're hooking up." 

Ariana snorted. "Why is that so true?" 

Justin spit into the sink and ran some hot water over a washcloth. "So you actually want to be my fake girlfriend, huh?" 

"I want to pretend to be in a relationship with you in order to lose this stupid little-girl image." She corrected. He washed his face and got close to the mirror to check for spots. 

"You could probably do that on your own though, you realize? I saw your last post on the gram. You looked hot." 

"No, I look like an idiot. I'm wearing a sweater dress. With a choker. Like, what is this, the 80's?" 

"It's sexy. In a cute way. It's cute and sexy." 

"Please stop." 

Justin laughed as he turned off the light and threw himself back on his bed. "Okay, so you really wanna do this?" 

Ariana was silent for a moment. Justin could hear tinny music playing in the background. It sounded like it might have been from a musical. "Yeah, I think so." 

"Okay." 

"Okay." She replied, waiting. 

Justin was at a bit of a loss. He hadn't really had much of a plan of action in mind when he came up with the idea, only what he imagined the reaction would be from the general public. 

"So I have no idea how we want to make this happen." Justin laughed, self-depreciatingly. "I didn't really think this far." 

"Story of your life, huh?" 

"Ouch." 

"Kidding." Ariana laughed. "Um. So do you want to like, make people think we've been dating for a while, or... like we just started talking, or what? I'm just throwing out options here, give me some feedback." 

"Just starting? We don't really know each other that well if anybody started asking questions. Besides, I feel like your family would know you were lying. Scooter would for sure." 

"Oh, so you weren't planning to tell our teams? This seems like something they would love to get their hands on." 

"Yeah, but how many people are going to know?" 

"Right, but like, we have PR for a reason. We could just make sure we only told the people who need to know. If we were actually dating, I for sure would tell Scooter, at least." 

"All it takes is one person to let something slip and the secret's out," Justin insisted. 

Ariana could hear the wariness in Justin's voice and decided to let the issue lie for now. 

"So this is a real deal secret then, huh? Like nobody else will know." 

"I'm not telling you not to tell people. Just, maybe be careful about who you tell." 

"Right. So how are we actually gonna do this? Like, do you want to go get lunch somewhere? Or. Idk, take a pic together or something?" 

"I think we should start even slower. Give people time to get used to the idea before we spring it on them. We can start commenting on each other's posts. And maybe a week from now get seen together." 

"Okay. But not on a date. If we're going slow we should be seen doing something totally not-dateish." 

"We can go on a hike." 

Ariana immediately started laughing. "Are you kidding me?" 

"Um, no?" 

"Justin, you take every girl you've ever fucked running with you. That would be the biggest giveaway. Besides. I met a treadmill once. We didn't really get along." 

Justin didn't know why he kept being taken aback by the filth that came out of her mouth. He should start trying to used to it. "I don't fuck all of them. And are you trying to tell me you don't work out?" 

"Absolutely not." 

"Bullshit." 

"True shit. Wait—hold on a sec." Justin heard a muffled sound for a few moments before Ariana came back on the line. "Okay, it looks like I have to go." 

"Okay." 

"I'll text you about meeting up later, okay?" 

"Got it. Talk to you soon." 

"Bye!" 

  


* * *


	3. Chapter 3

A couple hours later, Justin was getting ready to leave his house to go to a photoshoot when his phone started buzzing. He picked it up and saw that Ariana was calling. He answered.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Hi. There's a charity gala raising funds for LGBTQ youth next Sunday at six. There will be a ton of rich assholes who want people to kiss their asses for money, but also drag queens and free drinks. Do you want to go with me?"

"That sounds boring as fuck, I'm not even gonna lie." He replied.

"Rude! I've been going for the past three years and it's always a ton of fun." Ariana laughed and continued. "I've been trying to come up with stuff for the past hour and I literally can't think of anything else for us to do. Literally anything we do together people will assume is a date."

Justin pulled out his cell phone and went to his Google calendar. Scooter kept it updated so Justin had no excuse for forgetting an appointment. "Um, well, I'm scheduled to play in a celebrity basketball game next week. You could come watch me play. There will be a ton of other people around so it wouldn't be too obvious or anything."

"Sports-ball. Yay. Now that's what I call a good time." She replied, deadpan.

"Well, let's do both. Come to the game, talk to a bunch of people, and at some point we'll get seen together. Then Sunday we'll go to the charity thing."

"Compromise. Didn't know you knew the meaning of the word, Bieber."

"Don't be a dick. You still pissed about that comment on IG?"

"Sensitive, geez. I was joking. I do that from time to time." Ariana rolled her eyes. "And no, I'm not mad. It's got people talking faster than I thought we'd agreed on, but it's whatever. Anyway, we should show up to the gala separately, I think. Depending on if there are a ton of our people or not it might be pretty easy to get spotted. I think Ellen Page is coming this year."

"Who? Nevermind." Justin hummed, "AG and JB seen together at two different places in one week. I can almost see the headlines."

"Yep. Should be fun. I'll text you the details later."

"All right."

"Okay, talk to you soon. Byeee."

  


* * *

The basketball game was being held at the Staples Center. It was apparently an annual thing, and Ariana was surprised that she hadn't heard about it (but also not really, because she's a singer, not an athlete, duh) considering some of the other big names that we scheduled to play. Names like Chris Brown, Kevin Hart, Chris Pratt, Nelly, and Nick Cannon, who would definitely draw their own crowd. Tickets were sold and a portion of the proceeds went to some charity that it seemed that no one actually care about. This was just an excuse to get a bunch of celebs in one place and play ball.

Ariana pulled up to the arena and drove under the building to the parking garage where paparazzi weren't allowed. Her driver got out and opened the door for her and she hopped down out of the van, heels clacking on the concrete floor. She had been slowly but surely phasing out her "little girl" outfits, and had taken to wearing over-sized clothes as opposed to floofy skirts. Today, in the spirit of the event, she wore a huge gold Lakers jersey with a braided belt tight around her waist, turning it into a dress, and a top-knot hairdo.

As she and her bodyguard, Big G, neared the entrance they could hear the loud chatter of the crowd steadily growing. The arena could hold almost twenty-two thousand people so it wasn't as loud as it could have been, but it was still a pretty sizable murmur. When she walked into the gym itself, she heard a few excited squeals and a couple of people shout her name. She smiled and waved in the general direction of the screams and then pulled out her phone to text Justin. She had one missed text. 

**You here yet??**

****

****

**Sorry, just saw this message.**

****

****

**I just got here. I'm walking to the stands now.**

****

**Cool. I'll come find u**

Following instructions left by Justin the night before, she sat down in a spot in the second row, behind the home team who he would be playing for. A minute later she saw a blond-haired boy jogging up to her from the court.

"Hey." he said, kneeling on one of the cushioned seats and leaning against the railing to talk to her. He nodded at Big G, who nodded back and sat to Ariana's right, looking away to give them the illusion of privacy.

"Hey yourself," Ariana said, looking around the stadium, trying to see if anyone else was looking and recording their interaction. She couldn't pick out any faces but there were about five thousand people in the arena (and she was blind) so it was almost guaranteed that someone was recording them. There were several professional cameramen wielding huge, boxy cameras on their shoulders who were focused on the men and women warming up on the court, but there was a good chance one of them would eventually make their way over in their direction once they realized who was talking. 

"Game starts in thirty minutes, thought you changed your mind."

Justin started.

"Nah. Traffic was pretty bad though. There was a wreck on the 21."

"Ah, okay." He said, looking a little awkward, but still smiling. "Well. Glad you could make it."

"Yeah. I thought about brining a friend but none of them would suffer through this with me..." Ariana glanced over at the court for half a second and caught a glimpse of several familiar faces. "Oh my God, is that Kevin Hart? Ahh, he's so tiny! That's so cute!"

"Want me to introduce you?" Justin said, laughing.

"Ohmygod, no. I'd die."

"Hey, Kevin!" Justin cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled to be heard over the crowd. "Kevin!"

Kevin Hart, who looked to be in the middle of a conversation with one of the referees, looked up when he heard his name and then glanced around until he saw Justin. He excused himself and shuffled over to them.

"Hey, how's it going?" He asked, leaning over the railing to shake Ariana's hand.

"Hi, you are so funny! I love your comedy specials." Ariana gushed and them immediately cringed. "That wasn't what I meant to say. I meant to say 'I'm good. How are you?' So let's just pretend that that's what happened."

Kevin and Justin laughed at Ariana's expense before Kevin slung an arm around Justin's shoulders and asked, "So you ready to see us kick some ass today?"

"Can't wait." She responded just a touch too dryly.

"Not a fan of basketball?" Kevin asked with a confused smile.

"Or sports in general," she admitted. 

"Then what the hell are you doing—" He cut himself off and looked from Justin to Ariana, back to Justin, and then back to Ariana, and then back to Justin before raising his eyebrows.

"Come on man, there isn't—" Justin started to say.

"I didn't say nothing!" Kevin interrupted, holding his hands up innocently, backing away to go back to the court talking animatedly. "Nothing at all. You crazy kids have a good time, now! Don't do anything I wouldn't do. Remember: no glove, no love!"

Kevin turned and sprinted back to the middle of the court and Ariana covered her face in embarrassment. There was no way that no one at all heard Kevin shout that last bit of advice.

"Okay, so I think that's enough for today," Justin said, laughing. "I think Kendall and Hailey are coming, so you might have some company after a while. They're always late to stuff though."

"Hailey Baldwin?" Ariana asked, a little startled. "Y'all aren't still dating are you?"

"We were never dating." Justin explained patiently. "We just had a thing for a while."

"A thing. Okaaay." Ariana said slowly, completely not buying it. "That 'thing' isn't gonna get in the way of our 'thing' is it?"

"Nah, Hailey is pretty chill. It'll be fine."

Just then several whistles blew, signaling the players to get on the court for the last few minutes of warm-up before the event started. Camera men milled about presumably checking their video settings or angles or _something._

"Have a good game, I guess." Ariana said. "Go team, go."

"Thanks. Try to have some fun."

While they warmed up, Ariana took out her phone and played a few rounds of Piano Tiles before the loud speakers turned up to a near-deafening blast and the players for each team were introduced. Ariana cheered for Justin, Kevin, Chris Brown (the OG Bae) who was on the opposing team, and basically anyone whose name she recognized.

Justin was one of the starters so he was on the court right from the start, and he seemed pretty good from what Ariana could tell. But again, sports weren't really her thing, so he could have been the worse player on the court for all she knew. He got a couple baskets in at least, though. Halfway through the second quarter she noticed two girls and two boys squeezing their way onto her row. She looked up and smiled, recognizing Kendall.

She and Kendall Jenner didn't really run in the same circles. Sure they were about the same age, but Ariana spent the majority of her time at the studio, at home, or at her friend's homes and didn't do the whole bar hopping, dine-out-to-be-seen, celebrity thing. But the few times they'd run into each other they had been friendly enough.

"Hi! It's good to see you again. Justin told us you might be here." Kendall said as she sat down and leaned over for a light hug.

"Same! You look good. I love your shoes." Her shoes weren't all that great in Ariana's opinion, but this was the way girls worked. Compliment appearance to get in good. Check.

"Thanks! This is my friend Hailey," Kendall introduced.

Hailey was not someone Ariana had met, only heard about through gossip article headlines, which Ariana was always took with a grain of salt. Again, Hailey was a model and did modely things. Ariana was a musician. The two paths rarely crossed. Ariana was only familiar with the Kardashian clan because of how closely they were tied to the music industry, what with Kanye and Travis and Tyga.

That and the fact that they were super celebs. Why? She couldn't tell you.

Hailey looked pleasant enough though. Her blonde hair was tied back in a loose ponytail, which instantly made Ariana want to like her. She was wearing a comfortable looking cropped t-shirt and high-waisted jeans paired with some thick-heeled boots.

"Hi," she said, before leaning over to shake Ariana's hand. "I love your music. My sister and I went to one of your concerts last year. It was really great."

"Thanks," Ariana said sweetly. "It's nice to meet you."

They introduced her to their male companions, Chandler and Michael. It turned out, Michael was actually the son of Michael Jordan. The Michael Jordan. Which was pretty damn cool, even to Ariana who knew nothing.

They chatted a bit, Ariana mostly keeping to herself and watching Justin play for a while before it was suggested that they take a picture. The three girls huddled together and took a few selfies, Ariana throwing up her signature duck lips and peace sign. They took a few with the guys as well. Afterwards, Kendall and Hailey got quiet while they tweaked and touched-up their pics before posting them. Ariana got her phone out too, so she wouldn't feel left out and took a couple snaps of the game, putting the geo-filter on so her fans wouldn't have to look to hard to figure out where she was.

The home team called a time-out and Justin was subbed out by another player. He sat down in his seat and leaned back to say hello to the girls.

"Hey. Glad you guys could make it." He said, wiping his face with a nearby towel.

"No problem," Kendall said. "We would have been here on time, but Hailey kept changing her outfit."

Hailey rolled her eyes at Kendall before saying. "Sorry everything I own isn't Gucci or Versace and came from my sister's hella expensive closet."

The air was a little awkward before Justin interrupted it. "So are you enjoying the game so far?"

Ariana answered. "Oh yeah. It was super cool when you passed the ball to that one guy. And when he passed it back. And then when you threw the ball and it almost went in the goal, but didn't. Super cool."

Kendall laughed at Justin's annoyed face. "Next time you go out, don't force her into doing anything sporty. I've known her for twenty-five minutes and I could already tell you this was a bad idea."

"Well she's dragging me to a gay thing next week."

Kendall and Hailey looked at Ariana askance. Hailey asked, "A gay thing?"

"It's an LGBTQ charity gala. They do a couple of drag performances. So I guess 'a gay thing' isn't exactly a wrong description. It's pretty fun though. My brother is actually performing this year."

"I didn't know that." Justin said, looking curious.

"Definitely sounds like it'll be entertaining. I don't think Justin's ever seen a drag queen in person. He prefers his strippers." Hailey smirked at Justin who made another face at her. Just then a man who wore a jacket emblazoned with the letters "COACH" across the back came and told Justin to sub in. Justin said bye to the girls and went in to play the last six minutes of the game.

Ariana decided that she liked Kendall and Hailey enough that she could tolerate them in small doses and since she might need their help with this hoax they're starting in the future, she made a point of exchanging numbers with them.

When the game ended (Justin's team won, of course.) Ariana said goodbye and waved to Justin who was still on the court celebrating. She heard a few people call her name again, and this time when she looked, she saw lots of camera phones pointed her way.

Well at least it confirmed that video footage of her and Justin would be online soon. She smiled and waved and blew a kiss in their direction before her and her Big G made their way back to the parking garage.

Ariana knew that it would only take a few hours for most people to see whatever video had been taken. Between the video of them in the hotel bar from a month ago, Justin's comment on insta, and the basketball game, there would probably be plenty to fuel the rumor mill. Him showing up as her plus one to the charity event may or may not go unnoticed, but it would be one more piece of evidence in favor of a Justin/Ariana coupledom.

As they drove away from the Staples Center, all Ariana could think was, _God I hope this doesn't bite me in the ass._


End file.
